Data processing apparatus and network system that outputs quality of service information to a user

ABSTRACT

In each of the information processing apparatuses connected to each other via a network, there is arranged a quality of service (QOS) table to which functions and performance thereof are registered. When an information processing apparatus is additionally linked with the network, a QOS table thereof is automatically registered to a local directory of the network such that an agent converts the contents of the QOS table into service information to be supplied via a user interface to the user. Thanks to the operation, information of functions and performance of each information processing apparatus connected to the network is converted into service information for the user. Consequently, the user can much more directly receive necessary services.

The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No.11/054,387, filed Feb. 10, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,447,708; which is acontinuation of Ser. No. 10/336,796, filed Jan. 6, 2003 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,868,446; which is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/082,185, filedFeb. 26, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,640; which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 09/518,147, filed Mar. 3, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No.6,370,577; which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/106,291,filed Jun. 29, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,674; which is a divisionalof application Ser. No. 08/434,291, filed May 3, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No.5,774,656, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an information processing system inwhich services are provided to end users of apparatuses connected via anetwork to each other and an information processing method and a serviceproviding method for use with the information processing system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

There has been generally known a client server system (CSS) including anetwork and a multiplicity of apparatuses which are connected via thenetwork to each other and which include server machines having resourcessuch as a large-capacity disk and a plurality of client machines to beoperated individually by users so as to communicate information betweenthe linked apparatuses. In most applications of the client serversystem, resources of server machines are shared among the users, forexample, a disk resource of a server machine is commonly used to share afile thereon and/or a printer coupled with a printer server is sharedamong the users. Thanks to the recent development of basic software suchas a network operating system (to be simply called network OS herebelow)and hardware including server and client machines, it is possible toimplement environments of the client server systems for highly advancedutilizations and applications thereof.

For example, the Open Software Foundation (OSF) established as astandardization committee of computer industries has proposed an OSF DCE(to be abbreviated as DCE herebelow). In a complex network environmentincluding different kinds of apparatuses, DCE provides such services asa directory service, a yellow page service, and an access right service.

In the directory service, a name specified by a user is converted intoaddress information in the actual network system. This service issimilar to the telephone number indexing service according to atelephone directory. The yellow page service is an additional functionof the directory service. In place of the name, there can be used afunction or an attribute to attain address information, which is similarto the indexing service through a classified telephone directory. Thecertification and access right services are used to conduct a securitycheck when a user subscribes to the system or operates functions of thesystem, for example, to examine whether or not the user possesses theaccess right. Namely, these services are supported to control thesystem.

OSF DCE has been described in detail, for example, in the “Technology ofOSF DCE” published by Soft Research Center Inc. on Aug. 25, 1992 (ISBN4-915778-15-0).

According to services provided in the present CSS environments describedabove, when receiving a particular service, end users operating clientmachines are required to pay attention to usage of the service in mostcases. For example, when a file is shared between clients, it isnecessary to specify the file name assigned by the partner to the sharedfile and a position of the directory in the own client machine to whichthe shared file is registered (mounting of the file). Only after theabove operations are completed, the file can be shared between theclients.

Some systems can be accessed by the end user without considering anyparticular service. However, in such systems, the system manager isrequired to beforehand set the desired services according to the presentstage of art. According to DCE, services are enriched primarily for themanagers conducting the system management. This consequently leads to aproblem that end users can actually access only the information itemsand services beforehand set by the system manager.

Additionally, as the range of apparatuses and devices connectable to CSSis expanded, there appear various kinds of end users accessing thesystem. This increases chances in which the system is operated bybeginners of the system who are learning information related tooperations and functions of information processing apparatuses. In sucha case, there arises a problem that the services supported by CSS andavailable by end users are hardly utilized.

Furthermore, when accessing the system, most end users do not havespecial knowledge about specifications and characteristics ofapparatuses of the system. For example, the users operate apparatuseswithout recognizing functions and services supported by devices (such asdisks), for example, the remaining capacity and transfer performance ofeach disk and reliability of data storage. Consequently, only the systemexperts can appropriately utilize the system resources. Namely, thesystem can be operated only in an inefficient fashion by the ordinaryend users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide aninformation processing system, a method for use with the same, and aservice providing method for use in the system which allow users notfully versed in services of the system to appropriate utilize theservices of the system, thereby solving the problems above.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an informationprocessing system, a method for use with the same, and a serviceproviding method for use in the system which allows users not fullyversed in services of CSS to appropriately utilize the services of CSS.

Further another object of the present invention is to provide aninformation processing system, a method for use with the same, and aservice providing method for use in the system which guarantees qualityof service (QSO) supported for end users by the system.

To solve the problems above according to the present invention, there isprovided an agent function including two kinds of agents, namely, apersonal agent to control user information so as to relate a servicesupported by the information processing system to a process requested bythe user and a terminal agent to control the apparatuses. The terminalagent supervises information items of functions, performance, and thelike of apparatuses connected to the network to convert such informationinto service information necessary for the user. Moreover, the terminalagent controls terminals and clients operated by users. The personalagent provides data control and service operations customized for eachuser.

According to the present invention, there is disposed a serviceinformation conversion section to transform information of functions,performance, and the like of the respective apparatuses into serviceinformation. The conversion section includes a general serviceconversion table for the terminal agent to convert service informationand a personal service conversion table for the personal agent toconvert service information customized for the pertinent user.

Moreover, according to the present invention, the terminal agentcontrols the basic portion of the user interface for the terminal andclient operated by the user and converts information of functions andperformance of the apparatuses connected to the network into serviceinformation for the user interface. The personal agent furthersupervises such customized functions as information of the securityfunction for each user in relation to the user interface.

According to the present invention, for each of the apparatusesconnected to each other via the network, there is arranged a quality ofservice (QOS) table defining information of functions and performance ofthe apparatus. The plural QOS tables are controlled by a local directoryfor each cell corresponding to a small range of the network. All localdirectories covering the entire network system are controlled by aglobal directory.

In addition, according to the present invention, when an apparatus iscoupled to the network, a QOS table is automatically registered to thelocal directory. Furthermore, when the contents of registration aremodified in the local directory, the changed contents are notified tothe global directory.

According to the present invention, there is employed broadcast means asthe means for registering the QOS table to the local directory.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, there are disposed inthe information processing apparatus state monitoring means formonitoring the state of each section of the apparatus, means foraccumulating therein information of the state thus collected by thestate monitoring means, and a network interface to be used only by thestate monitoring means.

According to the present invention, there is provided an informationprocessing system including a plurality of information processingapparatuses each having a table to which information of functions andperformance is registered, a network for connecting the pluralinformation processing apparatuses to each other, a directory connectedto the network for controlling the tables of the respective informationprocessing apparatuses, and an agent function operable in either one ofthe information processing apparatuses for referencing contents of thecontrol operation of the directory and supplying a user with theinformation of functions and performance of information processingapparatuses registered to the table. Furthermore, in the informationprocessing system, the agent function includes a user associatedoperation for conducting a customizing operation for each user andthereby supplying the service information to the user, and an operationfor supplying the user with service information independent of anyparticular user. In addition, in the information processing system, theinformation of functions and performance to be registered to the tableincludes either one or all of a transfer speed, a random input/outputperformance, an access time, a bit error ratio, a mean time to data loss(MTTDL), a mean time for data availability (MTDA). Moreover, in theinformation processing system, the information of functions andperformance to be registered to the table includes either one or all ofa name of the information processing apparatus and a type, function,performance of an input/output device of the information processingapparatus.

According to the present invention, there is provided an informationprocessing system comprising information processing apparatuses eachhaving a QOS table to which functions and performance to be supplied viaa network to a user is registered, wherein the apparatuses are connectedto the network.

Additionally, according to the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, and a directoryconnected to the network for controlling the tables of the respectiveinformation processing apparatuses.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, a localdirectory connected to the network for controlling the tables of therespective information processing apparatuses, and a global directoryfor controlling the local directory.

Moreover, according to the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, a directoryconnected to the network for controlling the tables of the respectiveinformation processing apparatuses, and an agent function operable ineither one of the information processing apparatuses for referencingcontents of the control operation of the directory and converting theinformation of functions and performance registered to the table intoservice information, thereby supplying a user with the obtained serviceinformation.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other a localdirectory connected to the network for controlling a plurality of QOStables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set ofsmall-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality oflocal directories in a global area of the unit of local areas, and anagent function operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for referencing contents respectively of the global andlocal directories and converting the information of functions andperformance registered to the QOS table into service informationrepresenting quality of service, thereby supplying a user with theobtained service information.

Furthermore, in the information processing system, the agent functionincludes a user associated operation for conducting a customizingoperation for each user and thereby supplying the service information tothe user and an operation for supplying the user with serviceinformation independent of any particular user. According to the presentinvention, in the information processing system, the agent functionincludes reading contents of the plural QOS tables registered to thelocal directory, detecting a plurality of common functions registered tothe QOS tables, and creating a service menu therefrom.

In addition, according to the present invention in the informationprocessing system, the agent function further includes generating a QOSmenu for each of the services and supplying the user with the QOS menu.Moreover, in the information processing system, the QOS table includesas information of functions and performance of the informationprocessing apparatus either one of a response time, a processingperformance per unitary time, and a transfer speed.

Additionally, according to the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, a localdirectory connected to the network for controlling a plurality of QOStables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set ofsmall-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality oflocal directories in a global area of the unit of local areas andreceiving, when contents of the local directory are changed, anotification of change in the contents from the local directory, and anagent function operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for supplying a user with the information of functions andperformance of the apparatus, wherein the agent modifies, according tocontents of the change in the global directory, contents of serviceinformation to be supplied to the user.

In the information processing system according to the present invention,the local directory reads, when a new information processing apparatusis connected to the network, a QOS table of the new apparatus andregisters the QOS table to the system.

According to the present invention, in the local directory of theinformation processing system deletes, when one of the informationprocessing apparatuses is disconnected from the network, the QOS tableof the disconnected apparatus.

Furthermore, there is provided according to the present invention aninformation processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, a localdirectory connected to the network for controlling a plurality of QOStables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set ofsmall-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality oflocal directories in a global area of the unit of local areas, and anagent function operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for referencing contents respectively of the global andlocal directories and converting the information of functions andperformance registered to the QOS table into service informationrepresenting quality of service, thereby supplying the obtained serviceinformation to a user via a user interface. The agent changes, accordingto a utilization frequency of each service of the user and contents ofutilization of services, contents of the service information supplied tothe user via the user interface.

Additionally, in the information processing system of the presentinvention, the agent function in the information processing apparatusincludes a service access agent for controlling the user interface, apersonal agent service for achieving a customization corresponding toeach user and supplying the service information to the user and a publicagent service for supplying a plurality of services shared among theusers.

In the information processing system according to the present invention,the personal agent service is disposed in a client which is a terminalequipment in any one of the plural information processing apparatusesand a copy of the personal agent service is arranged in a server whichachieves a control operation in the plural information processingapparatuses.

Moreover, in the information processing system, the agent function inthe information processing apparatus includes monitoring a state of eachapplication software initiated by each user and changing, according to astate of operation of the application software, contents of the serviceinformation supplied to the user via the user interface.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, there are provided aninformation processing method and an information processing system usingthe method including the steps of collecting by an informationprocessing apparatus information of each input/output device connectedto a network when the apparatus is activated and notifying theinformation to other information processing apparatuses via the network.

Additionally, according to the present invention, there are provided aninformation processing method and an information processing system usingthe method including the steps of transmitting a request forinput/output device information from an information processing apparatuswhen the apparatus is activated to other information processingapparatuses via a network and thereby collecting input/outputinformation of the information processing apparatuses.

In addition, according to the present invention, there are provided aninformation processing method and an information processing system usingthe method including the steps of executing a predetermined bench-markprogram for a new information processing apparatus connected to anetwork and registering a result of the test to a QOS table of adirectory.

In the information processing method and the information processingsystem using the method, the notification is achieved by a broadcastcommunication.

According to the present invention, there is provided a servicesupplying method for use with an information processing system includinga network and information processing apparatuses connected thereto. Themethod includes the steps of collecting, when a request for informationof a state of each section of the information processing apparatus isreceived via the network, the information of the state of each sectionindependently of operation of the apparatus and transmitting theinformation to the network via a network interface of state monitormeans for monitoring the state of each section.

According to the present invention, there is provided a servicesupplying method for use with an information processing system includinga network and information processing apparatuses connected thereto. Themethod includes the steps of collecting, when a request for informationof a state of each section of the information processing apparatus isreceived according to a communication protocol via the network, theinformation of the state of each section independently of operation ofthe apparatus, converting the information according to the communicationprotocol, and transmitting the resultant information to the network viaa network interface of state monitor means for monitoring the state ofeach section.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information offunctions and performance is registered and a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, wherein anydesired one of the information processing apparatuses includes an agentfunction for referencing contents of the QOS tables of the pluralapparatuses connected to the network and converting the information offunctions and performance of the apparatuses registered to the QOStables into service information representing quality of service, therebysupplying a user with the obtained service information.

Additionally, according to the present invention, there is provided aservice supplying method for use with an information processing systemin which a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having aQOS table to which information of functions and performance isregistered are connected to each other via a network. The methodincludes the steps of referencing, in an agent function of any desiredone of the apparatuses, contents of the QOS tables of the pluralapparatuses connected to the network and converting the information offunctions and performance of the apparatuses registered to the QOStables into service information representing quality of service, therebysupplying a user with the obtained service information.

Additionally, according to the present invention, the user interfaceindicating QOS information representing functions, performance, andservices of the information processing apparatus includes either one orall of menu information items respectively related an online storage, amobile picture quality, and a backup storage.

According to the present invention, the terminal agent inquires of theglobal and local directories via the network about the QOS table of eachapparatus connected to CSS and then converts obtained information offunctions and performance of the apparatus into service informationnecessary for the user, thereby supplying the service informationdirectly to the user.

In case where the terminal agent achieves the conversion of serviceinformation, the information of functions and performance of theapparatus is transformed into service information necessary for the useraccording to the contents of registration in the general serviceconversion table of the service information conversion section.Consequently, service information to be delivered to the user can bealtered according to the contents of registration in the serviceinformation conversion section.

Furthermore, the terminal agent supervises the basic portion of the userinterface of the client to display common functions and to supply commonservices to each user. In consequence, when the contents of the terminalagent is varied, the interfaces and service information items can bechanged for all users.

The personal agent inquires of the global and local directories in amanner similar to that of the terminal agent about functions andperformance of each apparatus linked with CSS to convert the attainedinformation of functions and performance of the apparatus into serviceinformation necessary for the user so as to supply the serviceinformation to the user. When the service information is delivered fromthe personal agent to the user, an inquiry is sent to the terminal agentto send the service information to the user such that the terminal agentreports the information via the user interface to the user.

On receiving a service request from the user, the personal agent issuesan inquiry for the contents of the QOS table of each apparatusregistered to the global and local directories to notify the user'sservice request to the apparatuses having functions and performanceassociated with the service request.

Moreover, in case where the personal agent converts information offunctions and performance of the apparatuses connected to CSS intoservice information necessary for the user, the conversion ofinformation is accomplished according to information of conversionregistered to the personal service conversion table of the serviceinformation conversion section. Consequently, arranging a personalservice conversion table for each user, it is possible to supply theuser with service information customized for the user.

The personal agent updates the contents of the personal serviceconversion table according to the frequency of service requests from therespective users and the utilization frequency of each particularservice.

As described above, the terminal and personal agents recognize serviceinformation of the respective apparatuses connected to CSS. The terminalagent supervises the user interface to notify services to the users,whereas the personal agent controls the contents of user's servicerequests. Communicating the above information between the terminal andpersonal agents, the service requests from the users can be mapped ontothe system services.

According to the present invention, the state monitor means communicateswith the information processing system via the network interfacededicated to the state monitoring means. In response to a request forinformation related to the state of each section of the informationprocessing apparatus, the state monitor means collects information viathe network interface independently of operation of the informationprocessing system, thereby transmitting the attained information to therequest source.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent by reference to the following description andaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of an embodimentaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an embodiment of the localdirectory according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing structure of an embodiment of the serviceinformation conversion section according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of registration in the QOS table;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing structure of an embodiment of the globaldirectory according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an automatic generation of the QOS table;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the serviceinformation conversion section according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing constitution of an embodiment of the agentaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another constitution of the agent accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a service menu;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a QOS menu;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a login menu;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an initial service menu;

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display example of the personal agent;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a service menu of the personal agent;

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a QOS menu of the personal agent;

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a service menu of the personal agent;

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an embodiment according of the file serviceaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a flow of QOS information of the fileservice;

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment relatedto a network according to the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing structure of an embodiment of the QOS tableaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the service informationconversion table according to the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the user environmentinformation table according to the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing details of information processing apparatusD;

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of the service menu ofinformation processing apparatus D;

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing details of information processing apparatusE;

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of the service menu ofinformation processing apparatus E;

FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing an example of service of reliability,availability, and security (RAS) information;

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a flow of trans-mission of RASinformation; and

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the format of RAS information.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 9, description will be given of anembodiment of the computing service according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows in a block diagram the system configuration of theembodiment. In FIG. 1, information processing apparatuses A 101, B 104,C 107, D 111, and E 117 are connected to each other via a local areanetwork (LAN) 110. LAN 110 is linked with a wide area network (WAN) 123via the processor E as a communication server and hence is coupled withan information processing apparatus F 120 on WAN 123. The processingapparatuses A, B, D, and E respectively include QOS tables 102, 105,112, 118. The apparatuses A to F include terminal agents 103, 106, 109,113, 119, and 122, respectively. The terminal agents superviseinterfaces between the pertinent information processing apparatus andLAN 110 and other information processing apparatuses.

Description will be now given of a case in which the user operates theapparatus D as a client. When the apparatus is activated, the terminalagent 113 and a personal agent 115 issue an inquiry to the apparatus 107as a server on LAN 110 for resources on the network registered to alocal directory 108. The terminal agent 109 of the apparatus C 107transmits the contents of the local directory 108 to the informationprocessor D 111.

FIG. 2 shows an example of constitution of the local directory. In FIG.2, a QOS table registration section 301 includes registration items 302and registration contents 303. One QOS registration section 301corresponds to one QOS table of each information processing apparatus.An item representing a function or performance of the processor isregistered as the registration item 302, whereas the contents of theitem is set to the registration contents field 303. A network addressregistration section 304 includes resource names 305 of resourcesconnected to the system and network addresses 306.

In case where the user desires to access the processor from theprocessor D, the user issues a service request and receives the servicevia the terminal agent 113, personal agent 115, and service menu 116.The terminal agent 113, personal agent 115, and service menu 116 will bedescribed later in detail in paragraphs related to the user interface.On receiving a usage request for computing resources from the user, theterminal agent 113 inquires of the processor C 107 as the server aboutcomputing resources. The terminal agent 109 of the processor Caccomplishes a retrieval operation for the contents of the localdirectory 108 to sends information of functions and performance of theregistered computing resources via LAN 110 to the processor D 111. Onreceiving information, the terminal agent 113 converts the informationby a service information conversion section 114 into service informationfor the user to report the service information to the user via thepersonal agent 115 and service menu 116.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the service information conversion section114 according to the present invention. In FIG. 3, the section 114includes a general information conversion table 307 to conductconversion for service information common to the plural users and apersonal service conversion table 310 corresponding to a particularuser.

The general service conversion table 307 includes a table 308 to storetherein information of functions and performance of resources connectedto the network and attained from the local directory 108 of the serverand a table 309 to accumulate therein service information to the usercorresponding to the functions and performance of the resources.Moreover, there is stored in the personal service conversion table 310service conversion information for the personal agent 115 to optimizethe service menu for the pertinent user according to the serviceutilization state of the user and the operation state of applicationsoftware in the processor D 111.

For example, FIG. 3 shows a case in which the display sequence ofservices are altered in the service menu 116 according to the state ofutilizations of respective services. For each service information itemsupported by the terminal agent 113, the personal agent 115 registersthe utilization frequency of the user to a usage frequency table 311 toregister items to a display order table 312 indicating the displaysequence of the services on the service menu according to theutilization frequency. According to the information items registered tothe personal service conversion table 310, the user agent displays themenu in association with the degree of operation dexterity andutilization state of each user.

Next, description will be given of a case in which the informationprocessing apparatus (processor) B 104 is connected to LAN 110 in theembodiment shown in FIG. 1. When linking a new information processorwith the information processing system including the network, a QOStable 105 of the processor B 104 is registered to the local directory108 controlled by the information processing apparatus (server) C 107.FIG. 4 shows the flow of registration of the QOS table 105. When theprocessor B 104 is coupled with LAN 110 (step 401), the terminal agent106 transmits a broadcast message to notify connection and activation ofthe processor B 104 to the other apparatuses on the network.

The terminal agent 109 of the processing apparatus C 107 as the serveron the network requests the processor B 104 to transmit thereto thecontents of the QOS table 105 (step 403). The terminal agent 106 sendsthe contents of the QOS table 105. The terminal agent 109 registers thecontents of the QOS table 105 to the local directory 108 (step 405).Moreover, the apparatus C 107 reports the modification of the contentsof the local directory 108 via a communication server 117 to a globaldirectory 121 controlled by the apparatus F 120 on WAN 123 (step 407).The terminal agent 122 registers the modification of the local directory108 to the global directory 121 (step 407) and then terminates theoperation.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the global directory 121 according to thepresent invention. The global directory includes a local directoryregistration part 313 to which the plural local directories of thesystem are registered and a resource registration part 316 to whichtypes of resources registered to the local directories are registered.The local directory registration part 313 includes local directory names314 and gateway addresses of LAN 315 controlled by each local directory.The gateway address filed 315 contains a logical or physical addressdecided by a protocol of the network. Registered to the resourceregistration part 316 are resource types 317 controlled by the localdirectories and connection directories 318 of the respective resources.

On receiving an inquiry for a resource from a terminal agent, the globaldirectory 121 is accessed such that the resource registration part 316is first referenced to decide the resource type 317 and connectiondirectory 318 and then the gateway address 315 of the pertinent localdirectory is transmitted from the local directory registration part 313.The network address of the server supervising the local directory may betransmitted in place of the gateway address 315.

FIG. 6 shows a flow of operation to connect an information processingapparatus not having the QOS table to the system. For the apparatus notincluding the QOS, for example, for a computing resource, it is onlynecessary to execute a predetermined benchmark program so as to registerthe result thereof as a QOS table to the local directory 108. In FIG. 6,when the processing apparatus B 104 of FIG. 1 is connected to LAN 110and the QOS table is missing in the apparatus B 104 (steps 408 and 409),the processing apparatus C 107 sends a predetermined benchmark programto the apparatus B 104 (step 410). The apparatus B 104 executes thebenchmark program and then transmits the result thereof to the apparatusC 107. The subsequent operations are the same as for the apparatus B 104having the QOS table.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the service information conversionpart 114 of FIG. 1 according to the present invention. In the serviceinformation conversion part 114, information of functions andperformance of the information processing apparatuses is converted intoservice information for the users. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 7,the general service conversion table 319 contains as the information offunctions and performance the number of effective figures 320 of eachprocessor as the computing resource of the system such that the numberof effective figures 320 is transformed into a user service informationitem 321 indicating a suitable usage of the processor. Moreover, in thepersonal service conversion table 324, the number of effective figures322 is transformed into a predetermined benchmark program result 323 asthe user service information. The number of effective figures of theprocessor can be set by selecting a desired benchmark program so as toachieve processing according to a favorable evaluation method or adesired processing precision.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, description will be given of the agentfunction according to the present invention. FIG. 8 shows constitutionof an embodiment of the agent function according to the presentinvention. An agent function 150 is implemented by software operating inthe information processing apparatus 160. Each part of the agentfunction 150 operates as follows. A hardware virtual layer 159 copeswith or absorbs differences between the plural apparatuses 160 tosuppress influences of hardware discrepancies upon operation ofsoftware. A file system 157 controls a file system 171 of the apparatus160, whereas a network interface (I/F) 155 supervises a networkinterface 163. A DCE support 156 has a function to support open softwarefoundation (OFS)/DCE environments. OFS/DCE has already been described inconjunction with the conventional example and hence will not bedescribed in this paragraph.

A general service conversion table 173 and a personal service conversiontable 172 collectively correspond to the service information conversionpart 114 of FIG. 1. The conversion table 173 is a registration table totransform information of system functions and performance shared amongthe plural users into service information for the users. The personalservice conversion table 172 is a table for accumulating therein suchinformation of each user as information related to transformation ofservice information for a particular user and customized information ofthe user interface 152. A kernel 154 is the primary function of theagent to control the other functional blocks. A shell 151 and the userinterface 152 are arranged in an application interface 153. The userinterface 152 controls a cathode-ray tube (CRT) 161 of the apparatus 160to support the interface operation for the users.

The apparatus 160 includes peripheral devices such as a keyboard (K/B)168, a read-only memory (ROM) 169, and a flash memory 170. Theseperipheral devices are connected via a system bus 164 to a CPU 161 and amain memory 162.

Ordinarily, the agent is stored in a non-volatile memory such as the ROM169 or flash memory 170 or in a secondary storage such as a file system171. After the system operation is started, the agent is loaded in themain memory 162 to be executed by the CPU 161. The QOS tables 102, 105,112, and 118 of FIG. 1 are usually stored in the non-volatile memorysuch as the ROM 169 or flash memory 170. When the system is initiated,these tables are stored in the main memory 162 or the file system 171 bythe agent 150.

FIG. 9 shows another example of the agent.

In FIG. 9, the agent includes a terminal agent 175 to conduct conversionfor services shared among the plural users and a personal agent 174 tocustomize a service conversion method and a user interface for aparticular user. The personal agent 174 communicates information via theterminal agent 175. The other constituent components of FIG. 9 are thesame as those shown in FIG. 8 and hence description thereof will beavoided.

Referring next to FIGS. 10 to 17, description will be given of anembodiment of the user interface of QOS according to the presentinvention.

This embodiment is an example of access from a satellite office to ahome office. When an arbitrary terminal is activated in the satelliteoffice, the terminal agent of the terminal starts its operation todisplay a service menu (FIG. 10) indicating services available from theterminal. In the service menu of FIG. 10, the service items aredisplayed in the utilization frequency order under control of theterminal agent of the terminal.

When connecting the terminal to the host computer of the home office,the user selects “Connect to host” from the menu and then clicks thepertinent input device. On receiving the notification of operation, theterminal agent of the terminal displays the QOS menu (FIG. 11) forconditions of connection methods.

In the embodiment, the QOS menu of FIG. 11 includes four selection items“None”, “Quick even expensive”, “Less expensive even slow”, and “Setdetails”. When “None” is selected, the terminal agent chooses a routeaccording to the default value to connect the terminal to the hostcomputer of the home office.

When the user selects “Quick even expensive”, the terminal agentestablishes a route to carry out communication at an available highestspeed. When “Less expensive even slow” is selected, there is chosen aroute for communication at a possibly lowest cost. When the user selects“Set details”, the selection of the route is achieved by the user.Assume that the user selects “None” in this embodiment. In this case,the terminal agent selects a route according to the default value toestablish connection to the host computer of the home office, and alogin screen (FIG. 12) of the host computer is presented on theterminal.

Although the login screen of FIG. 12 is similar to that used in theconventional, an icon of the terminal agent is displayed in theupper-left corner of the screen. When the user clicks the icon whennecessary, the terminal agent of the terminal is invoked to conduct anoperation to change the setting of, for example, the screen size. Whenthe login is normally executed, the personal agent is initiated in thehost computer of the home office and then there is presented an initialservice menu screen (FIG. 13) corresponding individually to the user.

In FIG. 13, the personal agent indicates reception of three electronicmail items for the user and two circular notices of the work-flowsoftware. The service menu includes items of “E-mail (read electricmail)”, “Circular notice (examine notice)”, and “Later”. When the userchooses “E-mail”, the electronic mail software is invoked to display thefirst mail item. When “Circular notice” is selected, the work-flowsoftware is activated to present the first circular notice. When theuser selects “Later”, the personal agent displays another service menu.Assume that the user selects “Circular notice” in this embodiment. Inresponse thereto, the personal agent initiates the work-flow software topresent the first circular notice, namely, circular notice 1 (FIG. 14).

In the screen of the work-flow software shown in FIG. 14, the user canprocess circular notices according to the operation procedure of thepertinent software. Although the screen image of FIG. 14 is similar tothe login screen image conventionally used, there are displayed iconsrespectively of the terminal agent and personal agent in the upper-leftcorner of the screen. When necessary, the user clicks either one of theicons to invoke the desired agent. In this embodiment, it is assumedthat the user activates the personal agent icon to start operation ofthe personal agent.

In this situation, the work-flow software is concealed in the backgroundand a service menu (FIG. 15) is presented by the personal agent. When itis desired to produce a printout of circular notice 1, the user selects“Print circular notice 1” from the service menu of FIG. 15 and clicksthe input device. The service menu of FIG. 15 is controlled in thefrequency order by the personal agent. The personal agent monitors thestate of the work-flow software in the background and hence “Printcircular notice 1”, “To next circular notice”, and the like are added tothe menu.

When the user chooses “Print circular notice 1”, the personal agentpresents a QOS menu screen for printout (FIG. 16). In this embodiment,the QOS menu includes three selection items, i.e., “None”, “Homeoffice”, and “Other setting”. Prior to displaying the screen image ofFIG. 16, the personal agent recognizes according to information from theterminal agent that the user has executed “Login” from the satelliteoffice. Consequently, when the user selects “None” from the QOS menu ofFIG. 16, the printing operation is accomplished in the satellite officeand “Home office” is additionally presented in the QOS menu. When theuser chooses “Home office”, the printout is produced in the home office;whereas, when “Other setting” is selected, the printing location andother items are set by the user.

The embodiment shows a case in which the user selects “None”.

In this situation, the printing operation is carried out in thesatellite office and the personal agent displays again the service menuscreen (FIG. 17) if possible. The screen image of FIG. 17 is basicallythe same as that of FIG. 15. Only the contents of the service menu varytherebetween because the personal agent has reconstructed the servicemenu according to the printing operation of the circular document.

According to the user interface of the present invention describedabove, the agents re-configure the contents of the service menu and/orthe QOS menu according to the utilization frequency of the user oroperation contents.

The terminal and personal agents in the embodiment above correspondrespectively to the terminal agent 113 and personal agent 115 in theembodiment of the computing service described above.

Referring now to FIGS. 18 and 19, description will be given of anembodiment of the file service according to the present invention. Toimplement the embodiment of the present invention, there are requiredtwo control methods including (1) a method of controlling the userinterface of the file service in the computer network and (2) a methodof controlling quality of service (QOS) of file service devices linkedwith the computer network. Since the first control method has alreadybeen described in conjunction with the embodiment of the user interface,description will be given in detail of the second control method andinformation to be passed from the second control method to the firstcontrol method in the file service.

First, referring to FIG. 18, description will be given of the QOScontrol server of the file service devices. The computer network ishierarchically supervised according to the unit of zones and domains. AQOS control server is arranged for each control unit such as the zone ordomain. The QOS information 205 of the file service device 208 and anidentifiers (ID) to identify the device on the network or a namecorresponding thereto are registered to be hierarchically controlled.

In the hierarchic structure including zones and domains of FIG. 18,there are established correspondences between local areas 201 supervisedby a lower-layer QOS control server and global areas 202 respectivelyconstituted with a plurality of local areas 201 and controlled by ahigher-layer QOS control server. In FIG. 18, the QOS information 205 ofeach information processing apparatus connected to LAN 206 in the localareas 201 and an identifier of the device or a name correspondingthereto are registered to the local QOS control server 203.

A portion or all of the registration contents of the QOS control serveris or are registered to the global QOS control server 204 via thegateway 205 of the global area 202 including the local areas 201 and thebasic LAN 207.

Operations of the other sections of FIG. 18 are the same as those of thecomponents of the embodiment of the computing service and hencedescription thereof will be avoided.

Next, description will be given of the contents of QOS of file servicedevices.

For QOS of file service devices, there can be considered various levelsincluding classification according to quality of service most close todevice characteristics at a lower level and classification closelyassociated with file characteristics at a higher level. As a favorableembodiment of the present invention, the lower-level and higher-levelQOS items are set as follows.

1. Lower-level QOS Items

-   -   Transfer speed (sequential performance), random I/O performance,        access time;    -   Bit error ratio, mean time to data loss (MTTDL), mean time for        data availability (MTDA);    -   Bit cost.        2. Higher-level QOS Items    -   Online storage (ordinary file);    -   Mobile picture (e.g., resolution of 640×480 in MPEG format, HDTV        quality);    -   Backup storage.

Next, description will be given of the method of registering the fileservice devices to the QOS control server. According to the presentinvention, when a file service device is connected to the computernetwork or to a computer on the network, it is desired to automaticallyregister the device to the QOS control server. For this purpose, it isonly necessary that each device keeps the own QOS in a non-volatilestorage so as to notify the QOS information to the control server whenthe device is linked with the network or computer.

When a device to be directly connected to the network is powered orconnected to the network, the own QOS is autonomously reported to thecontrol server. For a device to be connected to the computer, when thecomputer recognizes that the device is coupled therewith, it is onlynecessary for the computer to read the QOS information of the device soas to register the QOS information to the control server. For thecomputer to sense the event of connection the device, there may beperiodically conducted a polling operation to recognize presence orabsence of the device or there may be employed, for example, aninput/output bus capable of sensing the event of connection of thedevice according to the protocol of input/output buses such as power andsignal lines. Notification of QOS from the device to the computer can beaccomplished as follows. For example, in response to a Mode Sensecommand from the computer (initiator in the SCSI), the device (target inthe SCSI) issues a response.

In FIG. 18, when the file service device 208 is linked with LAN 206, thedevice 208 reads its own QOS information 209 and notifies the QOSinformation 209 to the local QOS control server 203. The server 203registers the QOS information 209 and a portion or all of the QOSinformation 209 to the global QOS control server 204 on the basic LAN207.

Subsequently, description will be given of information to be passed fromthe QOS control server to the user interface.

The information items of file server devices from the QOS control serverto the user interface includes the following items.

1. Name or identifier to identify the device on the network

2. QOS at each level

The user interface selectively decides according to a level assigned tothe user and a request from the user which one of the levels of QOS isto be presented to the user.

In FIG. 19, a QOS control server 210 and a user client 212 are connectedto each other via LAN 211. A user interface 213 which is an applicationsystem operating on the user client requests via LAN 211 the QOS controlserver 210 to send thereto QOS information at a level according a user'srequest. The server 210 sends the requested QOS information. If thepertinent QOS information is missing in the server 210, the request forQOS information is transmitted to another QOS control server at a higherhierarchic level.

Operation of the user interface of FIG. 19 has already been described indetail in conjunction with the embodiments respectively of the userinterface and computing service. Consequently, description thereof willbe avoided.

Subsequently, description will be given of an embodiment related to thenetwork. FIG. 20 shows an example of the system configuration of theembodiment. LAN 612 is connected to information processing apparatuses A601, B 605, C 609, D 613, E 619, and F 625. In this embodiment, theapparatuses A 601, B 605, C 609, and E 625 are servers for mainlyproviding services, whereas the apparatuses D 613 and E 619 are clientsto mainly receive the services. The apparatus A 601 is coupled with ahighly reliable disk 604 in the redundant arrays of inexpensive disks(RAID) configuration, whereas the apparatus B 605 is coupled with a disk608 having a high access speed. The apparatus E 625 is also connected toanother LAN 628 and functions as a higher-level server.

Next, operation of the present invention will be described. Whenpowered, the information processing apparatus A 601 linked with LAN 612executes its initial setting operation to load the operating system ormonitor program and then initializes the program so as to set up theterminal agent 603, thereby finally establishing the utilizationenvironment.

During the initial setup operation or initialization of the operatingsystem, there is acquired QOS information of input/output devicesconnected to the system. For example, when the input/output device isconnected via SCSI, an Inquiry command is issued to gather informationof functions of the device. For another input/output interface, the QOSinformation is obtained according to an information collecting methodsupported by the interface. There may be used such interfaces as RS232C,Centronics, bidirectional Centronics, and GPIB.

The QOS information to be gathered includes values of functions andperformance, for example, those of the capacity and transfer performancefor disks and those of print speed, print line density, color ormonochrome, and print form size.

In case where the connected I/O device does not have any interfaceproviding QOS information, the QOS information is manually set to thefile or non-volatile memory from an external device such that thecontents thereof are read from the storage when the device is activated,thereby gathering the QOS information. When the connected I/O devicesupplies only partial information, the remaining necessary informationis manually set as above or the system default values are loaded in thefile or non-volatile memory. When the information processing apparatusis activated, the stored QOS information is obtained from the storage tothereby gather the QOS information.

The collected QOS information is accumulated in a QOS table 602 of theinformation processing apparatus. FIG. 21 shows an example ofconstitution of the QOS table 602.

When the QOS table 602 is completely created for the connected I/Odevices, the apparatus A 601 notifies initiation of the own system tothe other information processing apparatuses. In this operation, the QOStable 602 of the own system is also transferred. For the transfer of thetable 602, there is employed a broadcast address on the network to passthe table 602 to the destinations. On receiving the notification, theapparatus C 609 as a control server in the network having a localdirectory stores the table 602 in the local directory. The otherinformation processing apparatuses store the received QOS table 602 whennecessary. Specifically, the terminal agent of the pertinent apparatusmakes a check to decide necessity of the information. If necessary, theinformation is stored as internal data. The decision is conductedaccording to a predetermined condition or to whether or not there iscontained I/O information.

Subsequently, when information of the QOS table 602 requested in thepast includes QOS table information of another information processingapparatus, a terminal agent 603 of the apparatus A 601 issues an inquiryto the apparatus for the QOS table information.

For the inquiry, there is adopted, for example, a method using abroadcast address. The apparatus which has received the inquiry andwhich is connected to a requested I/O device transfers QOS tableinformation thereof to the inquiry source, namely, the apparatus A 601.When receiving QOS table information from a plurality of apparatuses inresponse to the inquiry, the apparatus A 601 assigns each QOS tableinformation with priority according to a predetermined criterion. Thecriterion may be related to positional information such as “QOSinformation belonging to the same network” and/or to difference in I/Operformance. In addition, the criterion for decision is specified, forexample, according to the system default value or by the system manager.

Furthermore, the inquiry may be issued to the apparatus C 609 having thelocal directory. When there is missing a server having a globaldirectory in the network, the QOS table in the local directory 610 ofthe apparatus C 609 is transmitted to the apparatus A 601. When such aserver having the global directory (the apparatus E 625 in this case) isconnected to the network, QOS table information of the local directoryis delivered to the apparatus E 625 having the global directory when theapparatus is activated. On receiving an inquiry for the QOS table fromthe apparatus A 601, the apparatus C 609 issues an inquiry to theapparatus E 625 so as to send the QOS table obtained in response theretofrom the apparatus E 625 and QOS table information of the localdirectory to the apparatus A 601. As a result, the necessary QOS tableinformation is transmitted to the apparatus A 601.

As already described in conjunction with the apparatus a 601, the QOStable information can be communicated and created in the similar fashionby an information processing apparatus functioning as a server.

Referring next to FIGS. 24 and 25, description will be given ofoperation of the apparatus D 613 as a client. When the apparatus D 613is initiated, a terminal agent thereof is already in the activatedstate. The terminal agent 615 possesses a QOS table 614 and a terminalservice information conversion table 629 for conversion of terminalservices. An end user 618 invokes a personal agent 616 thereof via theterminal agent 615 to execute the login operation to the apparatus D613. The activated personal agent 616 has a personal agent serviceinformation conversion table 630 and user environment information 631and displays a service menu 617 according to the user environmentinformation 631. FIGS. 22 and 23 show structure of the serviceinformation conversion table and constitution of the user environmentinformation table. FIG. 25 shows an example of the presented servicemenu. FIG. 25 is a data storing menu in which the RAID of the apparatusA 601 is indicated as a file with backup function and the high-speeddisk of the apparatus B 605 is denotes as a storage capable of storingtherein data in a short period of time. When the user conducts anoperation according to indications of the service menu 617 and there isresultantly required an I/O access, the personal agent 616 performs aretrieval operation through the service information conversion table 630to execute an I/O access if there exists necessary information. If suchinformation is missing, the personal agent 616 requests the terminalagent 615 to effect retrieval through the terminal service informationconversion table 629. If the requested information has already beenregistered, the terminal agent 615 returns the terminal serviceinformation conversion table 629 to the personal agent 616 as therequest source. If the requested information is missing, the terminalagent 615 carries out an operation similar to that of the inquiry toacquire the necessary QOS table information. According to the obtainedQOS table information, the terminal agent 615 updates the table 629 andthen returns the updated table 629 to the personal agent 616. As aresult of above operations, there is configured a service accessenvironment for the end user 618 in the apparatus D 613.

Next, referring to FIGS. 26 and 27, description will be given ofoperation of the client apparatus E 619. The apparatus E 619 differsfrom the apparatus D 613 in that a terminal agent 621 and a personalagent 622 are connected in a parallel fashion to each other. This allowsan end user 624 to achieve a change-over operation between the agentwhen necessary. When the apparatus E 619 is activated, the terminalagent 621 is in the invoked state. The terminal agent 621 has a QOStable 620 and a terminal service information conversion table 633 forachieving conversion of terminal services. The end user 624 initiates apersonal agent 622 thereof via the terminal agent 621 to conduct a loginoperation to the apparatus 619. As a result of the login, the processingobject is changed over from the terminal agent 621 to the personal agent622. Like the apparatus D 613, the personal agent 622 has a personalagent service information conversion table 634 and user environmentinformation 635 to display a service menu 623 according to the userenvironment information 635. FIG. 27 shows an example of the presentedservice menu 623, which is used to store data. In the menu, the RAID 604of the apparatus A 601 is designated as a highly reliable file withbackup function and the high-speed disk of the apparatus B 605 isindicates as a storage in which data can be stored in a short period oftime. In the service menu 636, the terminal and personal agents aregraphically shown in the upper-left corner of the screen. This meansthat the agents are ready for service requests. When an I/O access isrequired in response to a user's action in the service menu 623, thepersonal agent 622 executes retrieval through the personal agent serviceinformation control table 634 to conduct an I/O access when necessaryinformation is detected. If such necessary information is missing, thepersonal agent 622 requests the apparatus C 609 to accomplish retrievalthrough the terminal service information control table 633. If therequested information has already been registered, the terminal agent622 of the apparatus C 609 returns the conversion table 633 to thepersonal agent 622 as the request source. If the information is missing,the terminal agent 611 executes operation similar to that of the inquiryto finally acquire the necessary QOS table information. The terminalagent 611 updates the conversion table 633 of the apparatus E 619according to the attained QOS table information and then returnsinformation of the terminal service information conversion table 634 tothe personal agent 622. Thanks to the operation above, a service accessenvironment is prepared for the end user 624 in the apparatus E 619.

In FIGS. 25 and 27, the service selection is implemented in the menuformat. However, the disk which provides services may be visualized asan icon in the screen in the same manner as for presentation of theterminal and personal agents.

FIG. 28 shows an outline of constitution of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

In the embodiment, service information includes information related tofunctions of reliability, availability, and security (RAS) ofinformation processing apparatuses.

In FIG. 28, a reference numeral 181 stands for a CPU, a numeral 182denotes a main storage, a numeral 183 indicates a host bus, a numeral184 represents a bridge for achieving transformation between the hostbus 183 and an I/O bus 186, a numeral 187 indicates a network interfacemodule connected to the I/O bus 186 for achieving conversion of data toand from a network line 190, and a numeral 188 designates an RASinformation storage for keeping therein such information related tosystem reliability (to be referred to as RAS information herebelow) asinformation associated with power (whether or not power is dailysupplied 24 hours, whether or not a backup power supply is arranged, andwhether or not the power supply is structured in the duplexconfiguration), information related to the file system (whether or notthe file system is duplicated, whether or not the file system includes adisk array configuration, and the kind of file system, representatively,NFS), and information of other system devices (presence or absence offunctions to monitor failures, to detect failures, to notify failures,and to restore failures; or functions supported by the system).Moreover, in FIG. 28, a numeral 189 represents a multi-protocoltranslator for observing signals on the network line 190 and forreading, when a signal or message requesting information of reliabilityis sensed, necessary information from the RAS information storage 188independently of the system processing and state, thereby sending theinformation to the network line 190.

In the embodiment of FIG. 28, it is assumed that Ethernet to transferinformation conforming to three communication protocols TCP/IP, IPX/SPX,and Apple Talk is installed on the network line 190 and themultiprotocol translator 189 can cope with these protocols.

FIG. 29 shows a processing flow of the translator 189 in FIG. 28. Thetranslator 189 of FIG. 28 observes signals on the network communicationline 190. When a signal requesting RAS information conforming to eitherone of STEP 1, TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and Apple Talk, control is passed tostep 2 to read RAS information from the RAS information storage 188.Processing is then transferred from step 2 to step 3 in which control ispassed to step 4, 5, or 6 according to the communication protocol of thesignal sensed in step 1.

When the communication protocol is TCP/IP in step 1, processing proceedsto step 4 to convert the attained RAS information according to theTCP/IP protocol. Similarly, when the communication protocol is IPX/SPXin step 1, control is transferred to step 5 to transform the RASinformation according to the IPX/SPX protocol. Furthermore, when thecommunication protocol is Apple Talk in step 1, control is passed tostep 6 to convert the RAS information according to the Apple Talkprotocol. When the step 4, 5, or 6 is completed, control is transferredto step 7 to transmits the RAS information conforming to the pertinentcommunication protocol to the network.

After step 7 is processed, control is passed to step 1 to repeatedlyaccomplish the above processing flow. FIG. 30 shows an example of thedata format of RAS information data kept in the RAS information storageof FIG. 28. In FIG. 30, the first eight-byte field beginning at theoffset address OH is loaded with header data of RAS information, namely,character codes “RAS INFO”. In the subsequent bytes, there is stored RASinformation of the system such as information indicating whether or notthe system has the functions to monitor failures, to detect failures, toreport failures, or to restore failures or information denotingfunctions of the system.

Written in the first byte of the data area is a code designating thetype of RAS information (type 0 denoting system information is writtenin this example). In the next n-byte field, there are stored informationindicating whether or not the system is daily powered 24 hours,information designating whether or not a backup power supply isdisposed, information indicating whether or not the power source isduplicated, and the like.

Similarly, written in the first byte of the data area is a coderepresenting the type of RAS information (type 1 denoting powerinformation is stored in this example). In the subsequent p bytes, thereare stored information related to the file system, for example,information designating whether or not the file is duplicated,information indicating whether or not there is employed the disk arrayconfiguration, and information denoting the type of the file system(representatively, NFS). Analogously, stored in the first byte of thedata area is a code representing the type of RAS information (type 2denoting file information is written in this example).

According to the embodiment above, when a request for information ofreliability is issued from an information processing apparatus or thelike on the network, there can be transmitted RAS information of thesystem regardless of the operation state of the terminal.

The multi-protocol translator 189 of the embodiment may be controlled bythe DCE support 156 and network I/F 155 of FIG. 8.

As can be appreciated from the above description, information related tofunctions and performance of information processing facilities connectedto each other via a network is converted into service information to besupplied to the users. This leads to an advantage that the user can muchmore directly receive the services.

Since service information is delivered to the users via the agents, theusers need only establish interfaces with the agents. It is notnecessary for the users to pay attention to constitution of theapparatuses connected to the network.

Moreover, since the services common to the respective users are suppliedby the terminal agent, the contents of the services delivered to theusers can be altered at once by modifying the functions of the terminalagent.

The personal agent changes the contents of service informations to besupplied via the user interface according to the utilization mode ofeach user such as the user's operation procedure or the utilizationfrequency of a particular service. Consequently, there can be provided auser interface optimal to each user.

Since the agents convert information of functions and performance of theapparatuses on the network into service information for the usersaccording to the contents registered to the service information controltable, the contents of service information supplied to the users can bevaried by modifying the contents of the service information conversiontable. Namely, for this purpose, it is unnecessary to change thecontents of the QOS table of each apparatus.

According to the present invention, also when a new informationprocessing apparatus is connected to the network, information offunctions and performance of the apparatus is automatically registeredto the system. Consequently, the user can attain information of serviceswithout considering the configuration of the apparatus connected to thenetwork and the change in constitution thereof.

Since a broadcast communication is adopted as means to register theinformation of functions and performance to the information system, evenwhen a new apparatus is connected to the network, the information offunctions and performance can be registered independently of theconstitution of the network.

According to the present invention, for an apparatus not having a QOStable, a predetermined benchmark test is executed to create a QOS tableaccording to a result of the test. Consequently, information offunctions and performance of the apparatus can be effectively registeredto the system regardless of presence and absence of the QOS table.

Moreover, through an operation in which the contents of the benchmarktest are altered to execute the test in each apparatus on the network soas to register a result of the test to the QOS table, the QOS criterionof the system is changed and hence the contents of service informationare also modified for the users.

Thanks to an operation in which a benchmark test prepared by the user issupplied to the system to execute the test for each apparatus toregister a result of the test to the service information conversiontable, information of functions and performance of an arbitrary items ofeach apparatus of the system can be advantageously added as serviceinformation to the system.

While the present invention has been described with reference to theparticular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by thoseembodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciatedthat those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodimentswithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

1. A service menu display method for use in an information processingsystem comprising: information processing apparatuses including aplurality of processors each having a device; and an informationprocessing apparatus which is a client connected to said informationprocessing apparatuses including the plural processors via acommunication line, the method comprising the steps of: each of saidinformation processing apparatuses including the plural processorsstores function and performance information of a device included in theinformation apparatus including an associated processor in a memoryincluded in the information processing apparatus including theassociated processor; each of said processors transmits the storedfunction and performance information of the device included in theinformation processing apparatus including an associated processor viasaid communication line and said client information processing apparatusacquires function and performance information of a device included ineach of the information processing apparatuses including the processorsand stores the acquired function and performance information in a memoryincluded in said client information processing apparatus, wherein saidclient information processing apparatus stores information of serviceconversion in a memory included in the client information processingapparatus, said information of service conversion being used forconverting function and performance information of a device included ineach of said information processing apparatuses including the pluralprocessors to respective service information pieces to be provided to auser, wherein said client information processing apparatus displays afirst service menu for receiving a designation of a type of service tobe provided to the user on an input/output device connected to saidclient information processing apparatus, wherein said client informationprocessing apparatus receives the designation of the type of service tobe provided to the user from the input/output device displaying saidfirst service menu, and wherein said client information processingapparatus converts each of function and performance information of adevice relating to the service identified by said designation intorespective service information pieces to be provided to the user byusing said information of service conversion and displays respectiveservice information pieces obtained by said conversion into a secondservice menu, said second service menu being used for receiving adesignation as to which of the devices is to be used in connection withsaid identified service.
 2. The service menu display method according toclaim 1, wherein said device is a disk device and said function andperformance information on the device includes storage capacity, datatransfer performance of the disk device.
 3. The service menu displaymethod according to claim 2, wherein said information processingapparatuses including the processors are structured in an ARIDconfiguration using a plurality of the devices.
 4. A service menudisplay method for use in an information processing system comprising:information processing apparatuses including a plurality of processorseach having a plurality of devices; and a client information processingapparatus connected to said information processing apparatuses includingthe plural processors via a communication line, the method comprisingthe steps of: each of said information processing apparatuses includingthe plural processors stores function and performance information of theplurality of devices included in the information apparatus including anassociated processor into a memory included in the informationprocessing apparatus including the associated processor, wherein saidclient information processing apparatus stores information of serviceconversion in a memory included in the client information processingapparatus, said information of service conversion being used forconverting respective function and performance information of theplurality of devices included in each of said plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses including the plural processors to respectiveservice information provided to a plurality of users, wherein saidclient information processing apparatus displays a service menu on aninput/output device connected to said client information processingapparatus, and wherein said client information processing apparatusreceives a request for using a device from said input/output devicedisplaying said service menu, acquires function and performanceinformation of the device stored in an associated information processingapparatus including an associated processor via said communication line,converts the acquired function and performance information of the deviceto service information for an associated user by using said informationof service conversion and displays the service information thus obtainedby conversion as a new service menu onto said input/output device.
 5. Aservice menu display method for use in an information processing systemcomprising: information processing apparatuses including a plurality ofprocessors each having a computing resource; and an informationprocessing apparatus including a server connected to said plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses including the plural processors via anetwork and a client information processing apparatus connected to saidserver information apparatus via said network, the method comprising thesteps of: each of said information processing apparatuses including theplural processors stores function and performance information of acomputing resource included in the information processing apparatusincluding as associated processor in a memory included in theinformation processing apparatus including the associated processor,wherein said server information processing apparatus stores therein adirectory that manages function/performance relating to said computingresources included in said information processing apparatuses includingthe plural processors, wherein said client information processingapparatus stores information of service conversion in a memory includedin said client information processing apparatus, said information ofservice conversion being used for converting respective function andperformance information of each of the plurality of computing resourcesincluded in said plurality of information processing apparatusesincluding plural processors to each of service information piecesprovided to each of a plurality of users, wherein said clientinformation processing apparatus displays a service menu on aninput/output device connected to said client information processingapparatus, said client information processing apparatus receives(accepts) a request from a user for using a computing resource from saidinput/output device displaying said service menu and inquires of saidserver information processing apparatus about said computing resource,wherein said server information processing apparatus retrieves saiddirectory information and transmits function and performance informationof said computing resource of said information processing apparatusesincluding plural processors to said client information processingapparatus in accordance with said inquiry, and wherein said clientinformation processing apparatus converts a returned function andperformance information of the computing resources to user serviceinformation by using said information of service conversion and outputsthe service information thus obtained by conversion onto saidinput/output device as a new service menu.